Over the past four decades, Beverly Pepper has harnessed the materials and techniques of sculpture to innovative ends and sought to restore its communicative and symbolic functions. This exhibition in the Art Gallery of the Graduate Center documents the evolution of six of the artist’s internationally-acclaimed, site-specific works. Free, for information call 212-817-7394.

On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin, a Russian cosmonaut, became the first human to leave Earth’s atmosphere. Revelers around the world will celebrate the anniversary of his unprecedented voyage as well as the launch of the first U.S. Space Shuttle exactly 20 years later. The astronomy-themed festivities will include a virtual tour of the universe created by the Hayden Planetarium of the American Museum of Natural History, Princeton University astrophysicist Edward Belbruno (author of Fly Me to the Moon), and sound art by CUNY’s Intermedia Arts Group. Presented by Science & the Arts; free, for information call 212-817-7522.
Moments of Vision: Venice and the Islamic World
A Talk by Stefano Carboni
(discussion) 6:30 PM

Stefano Carboni, curator of Islamic art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the curator of the Met’s current special exhibition "Venice and the Islamic World, 828-1797," will discuss how artistic and cultural ideas that originated in the Near East were absorbed in Venice, a city that was a commercial and political magnet in the Mediterranean between the 14th and 17th centuries. Co-sponsored by the Renaissance Studies Certificate Program, the Ph.D. program in Art History, and the Provost’s Office. Presented by the Center for the Humanities; free, for information call 212-817-2005.

Friday, April 13
A Pickpocket's Tale: The Underworld of Nineteenth Century New York
(book talk) 4:00 PM

Timothy J. Gilfoyle takes us into the 19th century underworld of gang ruffians, gentleman swindlers, dirty politicians, cunning shysters and evangelical reformers. Gilfoyle is a professor of history at Loyola University, and the author of A Pickpocket's Tale: The Underworld of Nineteenth-Century New York; Millennium Park: Creating a Chicago Landmark and City of Eros: New York City, and Prostitution and the Commercialization of Sex, 1790-1920, winner of the Nevins Prize and the Dixon Ryan Fox Prize. Presented by the Center for the Humanities; co-sponsored by the American Studies Certificate Program, Ph.D. Program in History. Free, for information call 212-817-2005.

Monday, April 16

International Puppet Theatre: An Evening with Teatro Tinglado (Mexico) and Great Small Works (NY)
(performance) 6:30 PM

An evening of puppetry and performing objects featuring world renowned companies Teatro Tinglado (Mexico City) and Great Small Works (New York). Troka el Poderoso (Mighty Troka) by Teatro Tinglado is a solo toy-theatre performance based on the character conceived by Germán List Arzubide, with music by Silvestre Revueltas, and with engravings and poems by artists from the Mexican "Estridentismo" movement of the 1920s, directed by Pablo Cueto and performed by Alejandro Benítez. Great Small Works performs A Walk in the City, a toy-theatre adaptation of a story by Italo Calvino, directed and designed by Roberto Rossi and performed by John Bell, Trudi Cohen, Jenny Romaine, and Mark Sussman. A question-and-answer session moderated by Professor Claudia Orenstein will follow. Presented by the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center; free, for information call 212-817-1861.

Tuesday, April 17
Gutman’s Legacy: Writing the History of Postwar America Twenty Years Later
The Herman G. Gutman Memorial Lecture by Joshua Freeman
(lecture) 6:30 PM

Joshua B. Freeman, professor of history at the Graduate Center, revisits the work of legendary labor historian Herbert Gutman to examine its implications for writing the history of the United States since World War II. Freeman’s most recent book is Working-Class New York: Life and Labor Since World War II. Presented by the Center for the Humanities; co-sponsored by the Herbert G. Gutman Memorial Fund, the American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, and the Ph.D. Program in History. Free, for information call 212-817-2005.Wednesday, April 18
Landmarks and Landmines in Jewish-Christian Relations
(lecture) 6 PM

This lecture by Judith Banki will focus on, among other things, the progress made in Jewish-Christian relations as a result of the willingness of Christian scholars and leaders to examine and correct their own teaching traditions about Jews and Judaism. Banki is one of the pioneers of organized interreligious dialogue, a field she has helped to establish. Her writings and program activities have largely focused on two central aspects of the Jewish-Christian encounter: the image of the Jews in Christian teaching and preaching, and Christian church attitudes toward the State of Israel. Presented by the Rosenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies; free, for information call 212-817-8215.

Following a recital of works by Tower, Neidich, and Brahms, renowned clarinetist and Graduate Center faculty member Charles Neidich will hold a master class for select doctoral students. Norman Carey, professor of music and director of the D.M.A. (Doctor of Musical Arts) Performance Program, will accompany Neidich on piano. Hailed by the New Yorker as “a master of his instrument and beyond,” Neidich regularly appears throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia as soloist and with leading chamber ensembles. A leading exponent of period instrument performance practice, Neidich was one of the first soloists to improvise cadenzas and ornament classical concertos. His recordings are available on the Sony Classical, Deutsche Grammophon, Musicmaters, Chandos Hyperion, Bridge, and Cobra labels. Norman Carey is the pianist of the Prometheus Piano Quartet. Active as a chamber musician and collaborative pianist, Carey’s debut recital was lauded by John Rockwell in The New York Times as “really delightful and very satisfying.” Presented by the Ph.D./D.M.A. Program in Music; free, for information call 212-817-8607.

Jan Gross’s books include Neighbors, a finalist for the National Book Award, The Politics of Retribution in Europe: World War II and Its Aftermath and, most recently, Fear: Anti-Semitism in Poland After Auschwitz. He is currently Norman B. Tomlinson ‘16 and ‘48 Professor of War and Society in the Department of History at Princeton University. The talk is presented by the Center for the Humanites; free, for information call 212-817-2005.

City of the World
Passing it On: Teachers and Students of Irish Traditional Music
7:30 PM

Part of the series “City of the World,” presenting music of New York City immigrant groups, this concert will feature the next generation of New York’s Irish American community playing tunes that have been passed down for generations. Four of the region’s most accomplished teachers will be joined by their top students in sharing tunes and stories: fiddle player Brian Conway and his sister Rose Flanagan, known for their stewardship of a style of playing traceable back to Ireland's County Sligo; award-winning accordionist Patty Furlong; and piano and flute player Brendan Dolan. Presented by the Ph.D./D.M.A. Program in Music; free, for information call 212-817-8607.Friday, April 20
Into the Fire: American Women in the Spanish Civil War
(film screening) 6:30–9:00 PM

The American women who served Spain’s cause in the 1936-39 war were mostly nurses, with some notable writers and journalists among them. Labeled “Premature Anti-fascists” by the FBI upon their return to the U.S., many of them suffered harassment and persecution. This extraordinary film focuses on sixteen of these women, telling in their own words, their story of courage and commitment to a just cause. Following the showing will be a discussion with Julia Newman, who produced and directed the film. Presented by the Center for the Study of Women and Society in cooperation with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, the screening coincides with the exhibition “Facing Fascism: New York and the Spanish Civil” at the Museum of the City of New York. Free, for information call 212-817-8905.Monday, April 23

The Trial: Stages of Truth
(discussion) 4:00–9:00 PM

This conference will explore how the trial, as procedure and performance, has influenced other forms of public truth-telling, testimony, and confession in legal, political, and artistic practice. An afternoon and evening of intensive interdisciplinary discussion with leading human rights scholars, legal practitioners, playwrights, scholars in literary and performance studies, historians and political analysts will include: Lawrence Douglas, Amherst College; Moises Kaufman, author of The Trials of Oscar Wilde, The Laramie Project; Diana Taylor, NYU; Ruti Teitel, New York Law School; Jennifer Trahan, Human Rights Watch; and Elizabeth Wood, MIT. Presented by the Center for the Humanites; free, for information call 212-817-2005.

Tuesday, April 24

Activist Culture and the State of Radical Art
6:30 PM

What is the meaning of radical art and cultural resistance in a city full of expensive galleries and sleepy politics? Join Professor Stephen Duncombe (Media and Cultural Studies, Gallatin School, NYU), author of Dream: Re-Imagining Progressive Politics in an Age of Fantasy, and a panel of artists and curators to examine the current state of radical art. Panelists include Hugo Martinez, gallerist and founder of the “United Graffiti Artists”; Nato Thompson, assistant curator, MASS MoCA; graffiti writer and filmmaker SKUF; and SWOON, a New York based artist. Presented by the Center for the Humanites; free, for information call 212-817-2005.

Weather Report: What’s Next for New York, Climatologically Speaking? Will We Be Drowned, Fried, or Frozen?
(discussion) 6:30 PM

How has global climate change affected New York City? What will be the likely impact of coming environmental shifts? How much control can we have over our fate? Four local scientists ponder the weather report: Professors George Hendrey and Stephen Pekar, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Queens College; William Solecki, interim director, CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities and Chair, Department of Geography, Hunter College; and John Waldman, professor of biology, the Graduate Center and Queens College. Presented by the Gotham Center for New York City History; free, for information call 212 817-8474.

Thursday, April 26

PEN World Voices: The New York Festival of International Literature
(literary festival) 1:00–5:00 PM; also Saturday, April 28, 3:30–5:00 PM

As New York's first international writers' festival, PEN World Voices is an answer to American cultural insularity and an attempt to enrich and sustain a global dialogue. Participating writers include Vladimir Sorokin (Russia); Abela Farhoud (Lebanon/Québec); Dorota Mas?owska (Poland); Kristin Osmarsdottir (Iceland); Michel Vinaver (France); Patrícia Melo (Brazil); Koffi Kwahule (Ivory Coast); and Charles Mulekwa (Uganda). PEN American Center is the largest branch of the world's oldest international human rights and literary organization. Co-presented by the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center; free, for information call 212-817-1861.

Monday, April 30
Book Talk by Persis Karim
(book talk) 6:30 PM

At this talk by Persis Karim, editor of Let Me Tell You Where I've Been: New Writing by Women of the Iranian Diaspora, authors Marjan Kamali and Amy Motlagh will read excerpts from their work. Presented by the Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center; free, for information call 212-817-7570.

California Mission Music: The Remarkable Journey of J. B. Sancho, the First European Composer of California
(concert, book presentation, & discussion) 7:00 PM

Spanish-born composer Juan Bautista Sancho (1772–1830) brought to California some of the first samples European music, including sacred plainchant and polyphony, as well as opera excerpts and instrumental arrangements with basso continuo. This performance of J. B. Sancho’s music will be followed at 8 pm by a presentation of the book J. B. Sancho: Pioneer Composer of California by William J. Summers, Craig H. Russell, & Antoni Gili (edited by Antoni Pizà) and a panel discussion. Presented by the Foundation for Iberian Music; free, for information call 212-817-1819.